Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add
the shallots and fry until they are soft and richly golden. Add the
crushed garlic, ginger and 1/2 tsp salt and cook for 1 minute. Add the
pork to the pan and fry for 2 minutes until lightly coloured. Add the
kecap manis, dark soy sauce, tamarind water, pepper, chopped and whole
chillies and stock. Leave to simmer, uncovered, for about 1 1/2 hours,
stirring now and then towards the end of cooking, until the pork is
tender.

Lift the pork out of the sauce with a slotted spoon onto a plate.
Boil the cooking liquid until it has reduced to a well-flavoured,
slightly thicken, shiny, dark brown sauce. Season to taste with salt,
return the pork to the pan and stir in.Spoon the pork onto a warmed
serving plate, scatter with the crisp fried shallots and serve.

Stir yeast, 125 g flour and 150 ml water in a bowl of an
electric mixer fitted with a dough hook to combine, cover and set aside
until doubled in size (45 minutes - 1 hour). Add milk, sugar and
remaining flour and mix on low speed until combined, then, while mixing,
add butter a little at a time until incorporated. Cover and set aside
until doubled in size (1 hour). Turn onto a lightly floured surface and
knock back, then roll into 16 golf-ball-sized pieces and place on oven
trays lined with baking paper (leaving 3cm between each), cover and set
aside until doubled in size (1 hour).

Preheat oven to 180C. Brush top of panini with milk and bake,
swapping trays halfway through cooking, until golden and cooked through
(12-15 minutes). Set aside to cool.

Do not assume all Malaysians love their spicy food. Many do not. For
example, Mrs Perchong is the only one among her 6 siblings who has a penchant
for spicy food. Her working with many Malay colleagues is the main
factor that contributed to her liking of cooking with spices and chilli. I was hooked to spicy food from a young age because of her.

I love the rustic and yet festive look of this crostata - especially the
effect given by the cornmeal (polenta) in the pastry. This pastry
recipe is adapted from a very old cookbook that I purchased 12 years ago
in Malaysia. I have bookmarked this recipe a long time ago and this is
the perfect opportunity for me to finally make it.

I love the smell of lavender but I don't often work with it as a dessert ingredient. It's a tricky ingredient to work with because lavender can easily overpower a dessert, resulting in the dessert tasting and smelling like a potpourri.

Chicken liver pate with some sweet sauce/onion jam on the side Is my favorite entree to order when we are eating out.

So one day, thanks to my little sister's birthday, I decided to try and make one on my own.

After I discovered how much butter it contains I don’t believe I will prepare it a lot, but eating a small portion on special occasion I am sure will do no harm. Any way, it tasted so great especially with the onion jam, we all just loved it.